Religious Freedom Series

The Religious Freedom Series (RFS) is dedicated to the scholarly discourse on the issue of religious freedom in general and the persecution of Christians in particular. Religious freedom is understood as the freedom to exercise any or no religion as defined by the relevant declarations of the United Nations. From a human rights perspective restrictions of religious freedom and religious persecution are understood as the denial to anyone of rights connected with practising one's religion, and the denial of rights because of the religious beliefs of those who are persecute and/or those who persecuted. The right to religious freedom is indivisible and cannot be claimed for one particular group only at the exclusion of others. In this sense this series is dedicated to religious freedom in general.

Due to the fact that Christians are the largest single group persecuted globally – an estimated 75% of those persecuted for their religious belief – and that the editors are Christians themselves, this series has a particular interest in the persecution of Christians. This adds a theological and pastoral perspective to the various disciplines such as law, politics, philosophy and sociology from which religious freedom can be examined in a scholarly way.

The Religious Freedom Series is connected to the the International Institute for Religious Freedom of the World Evangelical Alliance (Bonn, Cape Town, Colombo) through its editors who are the directors of the IIRF. Members of the International Academic Board of the IIRF serve on the Board of Reference for the Religious Freedom Series.

So this series is interdisciplinary, international, and scholarly, serving the practical interests of religious freedom. Before acceptance into this series all contributions undergo scholarly peer review according to the criteria acceptable in academia worldwide.

Different types of individual volumes expected in this series include academic theses, solidly researched documentations, legal expertise, country profiles and case studies, declarations and documents of practical relevance, conference proceedings, topical collections, curricula, textbooks, bibliographies, statistics, and reprints. Interested parties are invited to submit their manuscripts to the editors. The series is complemented by the International Journal for Religious Freedom, which is freely available online and for purchase as a print edition.